Buy the real wool rug. It will be an investment that saves you money and time and land-fill over many years.

The Loloi printed flat rugs are fine. It makes a ton of sense if you have dogs or kids. The polypropylene low pile rugs (NuLoom, Safaveih) aren’t as nice. I mean at that size it’s the difference between $400 and $10k... I’d rather just get a decent poly rug and put $9,600 towards a vehicle or retirement.

As others have suggested, it really depends on your lifestyle and what else you might need the money for. There is no substitute for the real thing, but if dogs and children are involved, you may not want to risk the destruction of an heirloom wool carpet. I have had very good luck with on-line carpet purchases, but I only buy from sites where they photograph the carpet from many different angles so you can get a really good idea of the colours, texture, pile density, etc. (A single shot of a "bird's eye view" can be very deceiving.) Many have a "see it in your room" feature that is also helpful. A 9x13 rugs is big, bulky and difficult to return. Also, even in a fibre like polyester or polypropylene, that size will run to several hundreds of dollars. If you go this route, my advice is to order the smallest size and check it out if you have concerns.

A hand-knotted wool rug is a much better buy. And more durable, too. Sure the upfront cost is substantial, but you'll have it forever and then your children will have it forever.

As for the comments about a wool rug not being a good choice for homes with kids and dogs, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m talking about high-quality, hand-knotted rugs here, not tufted or woven.

Take a look at Karastan Spice Market collection. Bullet proof. I think really nice looking for the price. I have the Saigon which is more tribal than traditional. I would purchase again in a heartbeat. We saw it in person at Macy's and they had quite a few of the collection on hand.

My apologies to Mr. Jeremy, for a potential hijacking of his thread.... lol

As for the comments about a wool rug not being a good choice for homes
with kids and dogs, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m talking
about high-quality, hand-knotted rugs here, not tufted or woven.

Wool terrifies me. I've never had a wool rug, and am absolutely, totally afraid of buying something that my kids will ruin inside of a month. (I currently have 7 children, 6 of them boys; all aged 4 months to 15 years.)

How in the *world* do you know what to pick, to ensure its survival??? Aside from being hand-knotted, is there anything else to look for? I like soft plushy rugs, not flat... Should I just stick with sheepskin? I almost have my husband on board with trying a sheepskin, lol; don't know if I can convince him to try wool. The kids just destroy too much, without even trying. They're totally sweet and awesome, but not particularly careful, sometimes. :-)

Thanks everyone, A nice lively Discussion that is really helpful! I do have wool rugs in other areas of the house and I Find that wool is very durable.

This is really primarily a cost concern compounded by the fact that I can’t shop in person these days (covid) to look at original/expensive rugs and I am looking at a worn out jute rug that is too small for the living room.

(to clarify, what I mean is I have a jute rug currently that is past due for replacement)

Jeremy I love the wood rugs also but I would not put $10k in a rug I can not see in person. Get the alternative for the time being. There are so many options today than there were 20 years ago. You can get a rug and not feel bad for tossing it if you taste changes. There are some very nice ones. I especially like Loloi, Karastan, Stark. etc.

We have several antique wool rugs, one "new" wool rug (purchased 15 years ago), and one printed "fake antique" Loloi rug that we've had for only a few months. The rug that's taken the biggest beating over the years is the wool rug we purchased new for our living room. That rug lived through our beloved lab when she was old and incontinent (it wasn't pretty) and got barfed on by numerous cats over the years without so much as a stain or odor. We used enzyme cleaners and the colors are muted, so I'm sure that helped. I had to scrub on it and wash it countless times, and it stood up to everything. It's this "Patina 7" rug made by Sphinx by Oriental Weavers. It's now in my husband's office where it doesn't see heavy use anymore. I would highly recommend that type of rug to anyone with kids and pets for use in a high traffic area, though the price is going to be more than a polyester rug.

After our lab passed away and we decided to get a larger rug for our living room, we got an antique wool rug off of eBay. Like most of my antique rugs, it is veggie dyed (natural dies), so the colors will bleed a bit when the rug gets wet. There's no way it would have stood up to the abuse our other wool rug went through without showing lots of stains and wear. I absolutely love it and it would have broken my heart to see it destroyed by pets or kids. My kids are teens now and we don't eat in our living room, so other than the occasional cat barf (which I clean very carefully to minimize color bleeding), it doesn't see heavy abuse.

We have an antique wool runner in an area near one of our litter boxes and one of our cats barfs on it regularly. I'm careful when cleaning it, but it still has some visible spots that look like they're a little bleached compared to the rest of the rug. My husband swears he doesn't use cleaning products when he cleans up the messes; maybe the cat vomit itself bleaches it, I don't know. We had another antique runner that one of my cats decided to use for claw sharpening and she was pulling out some of the knots in one area. I decided to roll it back up and resell it before she could do too much damage to it. We replaced it with another antique wool runner with a tighter type of knot that doesn't tempt her to claw it. All that to say, not all antique wool rugs are "bullet proof."

The Loloi printed rug is in our basement hang out area that we use daily. I originally planned to get a wool rug for that space, but couldn't find the right size and style. After a couple of wool rugs that looked awful in the space (bad design choices on my part), I decided to try the one of the LoLoi printed rugs. It's called the Alexander Home Tremezzina Printed Boho Iron-Rod Distressed Rug at Overstock, but the label says "LoLoi Loren LQ-10 Blue/Red"). It suits the room perfectly and I like it a lot. The cats have "christened" it with their barf already and it was easy enough to clean up with no visible stains. I don't like the idea of buying disposable rugs that go in the landfill after a few years, but I plan to take care of it and think it will wear well. We have a very thick pad under it so it's nice and plush with the 2 layers.

Sorry to be so long-winded. Just wanted to share in case it helps. Good luck!

Thanks that’s really helpful. We do have a dog so that is a factor in terms of the colours since she sometimes lays in the living room. I do like the Laloi Rug you mentioned. There seems to be consistent feedback that a printed rug is better than the new loom style polyester ones. I actually ordered a few of those from Home Depot for our front hall at one point and sent them all back.

This place actually has some reasonably priced hand Nodded wool rugs, and apparently a pretty liberal return policy.

https://www.ecarpetgallery.com/us_en/

I also live in Toronto Canada which illuminates some of the options you may have in the states. The ecarpet gallery is actually based in Montreal

Check some of the vintage rug sellers on Etsy. I’ve purchased two vintage wool rugs there, and couldn’t be happier with them. We have a Lab, so I’m vacuuming constantly and have the occasional stain to contend with. Many of the patterned, low pile wool rugs are extremely forgiving. You can find vintage rugs at extremely good prices.

I have tried in a similiar mix the wayfare special vintage stuyle rug in my modern house - It is holding up very well, no landfill in sight.